Royal History

In the Holy Bible, the Royal History begins with the book of Samuel. When Samuel, the prophet of God took charge, the people were in an awful state. They had practically rejected God, and we hear them asking for an earthly king (1 Samuel 8:4-7). This book may be divided under the names of three chief characters –

·         Samuel, the prophet (1 Samuel 1-7)

·         Saul, the king (1 Samuel 8-15)

·         David, the chosen king (1 Samuel 16 – 31)

1 Samuel opens with the record of Hannah, Samuel’s mother, praying for a son whom God could use. Samuel, the last of the judges, was God’s answer to this prayer. We see the cry of Hannah for a child. There are couples who pray for a child. Pray for a child whom you will give back to God to do God’s ministry. According to this chapter, God will answer your request. Samuel brought victory to his people through prayer (1 Samuel 7:5-10). When the nation wanted a king, Samuel prayed unto the Lord (1Samuel 8:6). Intercessory prayer was the keynote of his life (1 Samuel 12:19-23). Whatever the world may give you, a fellowship with God will overpower it. We should not only pray for ourselves, but should do intercessory prayers also. 

Another point we see in chapters 1 to 7 is when Samuel grew into manhood, he took the leadership for which he had been born. We should understand that we are born to serve our God. So we should always know our way which has been shown to us through Christ Jesus. A serious note in these chapters is the people wanted to be like all other nations. God wanted them to be unlike the other nations. You who have accepted Christ as saviour are blessed to do things according to God’s way, so the world can see you and follow, not the other way.

Saul, the first king of Israel was a failure. He was handsome to look at, was tall and a noble man. He started out splendidly. He proved to be an able military leader. He was humble at first, but we find him becoming proud and disobedient to God (1 Samuel 8-15). No man had a greater opportunity than Saul and no man ever was a greater failure. When Saul failed, Samuel was faithful in warning him, then in loneliness he mourned over him (1 Samuel 15:35). In a battle with the Philistines, Saul and his three sons met death. Here a life so full of promise ended in defeat and failure. God sees your heart. Saul tried to defend himself with excuses when sinned, instead of confessing. World may take your excuses, but God sees your heart and knows your intentions.

David, Jesse’s son and the great-grandson of Ruth and Boaz, was born in Bethlehem. He was the youngest of eight sons. When he was only eighteen, God told Samuel to anoint him king to succeed Saul. As a boy he tended his father’s sheep, and we read of his brave deeds in defending them from wild beasts (1Samuel 16-31). One of the most charming stories of friendship is found between David and Jonathan, Saul’s son.

When David was promoted to a high command in the army, his great success roused the jealousy of Saul who determined to kill him. He made five attacks on David’s life (1Samuel 19:10, 15, 20-21, 23-24). But God preserved David. David was delivered from all these dangers. When God is with us, no one can put us down. They may attack us, but cannot win over us. “If God is for us, who can be against us?” – Romans 8:31.  David grew under his trials and afflictions. Instead of letting Saul’s hatred his heart, he returned love for hate. Twice was Saul’s life in David’s hand but both times he spared Saul. After Saul and his sons were killed by the Philistines David’s exile ended.

Saul died on the field of battle by his own hand. Advantages and opportunities in youth never guarantee success in manhood. One must keep true to God. Saul’s undoing was not so much disobedience, as half-hearted obedience (1 Samuel 15). He was a victim of human pride and jealousy. This book teaches us two things. One - Not to have pride. When we have pride, jealousy will arouse the moment we see someone blessed above us. The second thing is to walk close with God and God will take on our enemies and protect us to go ahead in life.

Praying that you chose the second way and go ahead in life to live a testimonial life.

Messianic Family

Ruth was the great-grand mother of David. This book establishes the lineage of David, the ancestor of Christ. It tells of the beginning of the Messianic family within the Messianic nation into which over thousand years later, the Messiah was to be born.

Ruth was a Moabitess. These people were descendants of Lot. They were pagans, worshiping many gods and goddesses. God, in establishing the family that was to produce the world’s Saviour, chose a beautiful pagan girl, led her to Bethlehem where she met Boaz, her “kinsman redeemer”, a relative of Naomi who first made her a family member and then made her his bride. This is God’s grace.

God adopts gentiles into Christ’s family. Even though Ruth was born a pagan, through Naomi, she learned of true God.

Another truth in this book is about Boaz. Boaz was the son of Rahab, the prostitute found in Jericho (Joshua 2). You can see it in the genealogy of Christ Jesus (Mathew 1:5). So we see that David’s great grandmother was a Moabitess and his great grandfather was half Canaanite. This is found in the bloodline of the Messiah.

God called a nation to be his chosen people. But he proved through this book that through faith; even a gentile can become his chosen one. That is why through Jesus Christ, the believers are called New Israel. Whatever blessings God pronounced to his chosen people in the Old Testament are available to the New Israel who is in Christ Jesus.

May God enable you to stay close with Christ Jesus to claim the blessings and companionship which God gave to the chosen one.

Dark Ages

Judges cover the period after the death of Israel’s great leader, Joshua, to the ascension of Saul to the throne. During this time, the people were ruled by Judges whom God raised up to deliver his oppressed people (Judges 17:6). There were 14 judges – Othniel, Ehud, Shamgar, Deborah, Gideon, Tola, Jair, Jephthah, Ibzan, Elon, Abdon, Samson, Eli and Samuel.

In Judges 1:1, we see the death of Joshua. Due to their disobedience to God, troubles started and continued in Israel. They did not exterminate the enemies in the land, but rather worshiped the idols of the people and became corrupted in their morals. In Chapter 1 we see a series of disobediences and Chapter 2 we see their defeat and failure. God gave them up to their own will. The children of Israel brought on their own judgement upon themselves and became their own executioners.

God wanted the chosen people to realize that they were a holy people. They must not mix with the wicked nations about them. They must continually separate themselves. God knew that separation makes a people strong. Believers today must remember that they cannot mix with the world. They must keep close to God and war against sin and unrighteousness. God wants every believer to be warriors (Ephesians 6:10-18).

The children of Israel intermarried with the surrounding idolatrous peoples, worshipped at their shrines and practised their values. They went through 7 failures (Judges 3:5 – 16:31). God used Judges to deliver them from these failures.

Last chapters give us a picture of anarchy and confusion. First we see confusion in the religious life of the nation (Judges 17:18). Second we see confusion in the moral life of the nation (Judges 19). Third we see confusion in the political life (Judges 21). The last chapter proves that the children of Israel had lost the way to God’s home, so low that they sunk.

The history of church through the ages has been like this with Martin Luther (1483 – 1546, leader of the Protestant reformation); John Knox (1513 – 1572, Scottish Reformer) and John Wesley (1703 – 1791, Methodist founder) as deliverers.

After reading Judges we may think that the whole of these three of four hundred years was spent in rebellion and sin. But if you read it carefully, you will see that only about one hundred out of these possible 30 years were spent in disloyalty to God.

One thing we learn in this book of Judges is that a people who spend much of their time in disobedience to God make little progress during their life time.

May God enable you to understand the spiritual meaning about this book and help you to be obedient to him to be victorious and prosperous in life.